04 January 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Indian Panorama Film Festival begins in New Delhi

The Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare has inaugurated the ten-days Indian Panorama Film Festival at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.

A total of 26 Feature Films and 21 Non-Feature Films will be screened during the festival.

The film festival is being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Directors of the opening feature film - Olu, Shaji N Karun and non-feature film Kharvas, Aditya Suhas Jambhale will be present on the occasion.

All the films selected under the Indian Panorama section in the 49th International Film Festival of India will be screened during the Festival.

Source: AIR news

2. HRD Ministry constitutes a task force to look into suicides of JNV students

The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has constituted a task force to look into the issues of suicides of the students in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) residential schools.

The task force has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Psychiatrist, Dr Jitendra Nagpal.

It will also suggest ways and means arrest the trend of suicides by students.

According to the report, around 49 students of the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas committed suicide between 2013 and 2017.

Note:

The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are fully residential schools managed and run by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Source: PIB

3. Cabinet clears setting up of a committee to implement Clause 6 of Assam Accord

The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a high-level committee for implementation of clause 6 of the Assam Accord and measures envisaged in the Memorandum of Settlement, 2003 and other issues related to Bodo community.

The composition and terms of reference of the committee will be issued separately by his ministry.

The Union Home Minister has also announced the establishment of a Bodo museum and modernization of All India Radio Station and Doordarshan Kendra in Kokrajhar.

People can write braille with the original slate and stylus or type it on a braille writer, such as a portable braille notetaker (or computer) that prints with a braille embosser.

Source: UN News

Banking & Finance

6. Allahabad Bank & SBI Life join hand for bancassurance partnership

Allahabad Bank and SBI Life Insurance came together and signed a bancassurance pact to sell the policies of the insurer from over 3,200 branches of Allahabad Bank across the country.

This will empower the consumer to address their complete financial needs under one roof.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Allahabad Bank Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mallikarjuna Rao and Sanjeev Nautiyal (SBI Life MD & CEO).

Source: Economic Times

International Affairs

7. Turkmenistan launches first messaging app

Turkmenistan has launched its first messaging app ‘BizBarde’.

BizBarde app will allow the exchange of messages, files, photos and videos.

Earlier, the ex-Soviet republic has blocked Western services including Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, and Viber, along with popular Russian networks Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.

Source: PTI

Appointments

8. V K Yadav takes charge as Chairman, Railway Board

General Manager of South-Central Railway (SCR) Vinod K. Yadav (1980 batch of the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers) has been appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board.

Yadav succeeds Ashwani Lohani (retired on 31st Jan 2018)

The Railway Board is the apex body of the Indian Railways.

It reports to the Parliament of India through the Ministry of Railways headed by the Railway Minister of India.

Source: Hindu BusinessLine

9. Saurabh Kumar appointed as Chairman of Ordnance Factory Board

Saurabh Kumar (1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer) has been appointed as the Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Kumar is an M-Tech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.

Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories is an industrial organisation, functioning under the Department of Defence Production of Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

Note:

The Apex Board is headed by Director General Ordnance Factories (DGOF) as Chairman and has 9 Members in the rank of Additional DGOF.

OFB is engaged in research, development, production, testing, marketing and logistics of a comprehensive product range in the areas of air, land and sea systems.